Why liking your teachers can boost your results

The benefits of having more positive relationships with teachers are far more significant than the impacts of negative relationships for students and can shape their overall educational aspirations.

High school students with more positive than negative relationships with their teachers are far more likely to enjoy school, participate in class and say they aspire to continue with specific subjects and their education more broadly, new research has found.

MLC School teacher Blake Fatouros says building positive relationships with students can boost their academic achievement.Credit:Peter Rae

These indicators of school engagement improved with an increase in the number of positive relationships with teachers, according to the study of more than 2000 NSW and Victorian students that has been published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

"We found that as you kept adding more positive relationships into the mix, engagement kept tracking up and up," the study's lead author and a professor of educational psychology at UNSW, Andrew Martin, said.

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"When you added a negative relationship, engagement would go down but there was a floor effect, it wouldn't keep deteriorating," Professor Martin said.

Blake Fatouros, the director of co-curricular programs at MLC School in Sydney's west, said the study proves a strategy he has been using in his teaching for years.

"It's nice to see that the things we've known anecdotally for a few years now have evidence behind them," said Mr Fatouros, who is also a dance and entertainment teacher.

"When you're involved in school clubs and choreographic productions, the kids you do work with outside the classroom, you have a better relationship with in the classroom.

"There's a greater level of respect, they understand how you work and you understand their learning and working process."

Mr Fatouros said building that relationship with students involved things like talking to them about their interests outside of the subject you teach and can ultimately affect students' academic performance.

"You chat about what sports they're involved in, or sometimes it's about supporting them when things go wrong and they need someone to have a chat with," Mr Fatouros said.

"The outcomes in the classroom are definitely different. Students you know will come to you when they've got a problem and you'll know straight away.

A cohort that doesn't know you won't come to you for that extra help, and that can make a big difference.

Blake Fatouros

"A cohort that doesn't know you won't come to you for that extra help, and that can make a big difference."

Professor Martin said the study's findings suggest school leaders and both teacher education and professional development courses need to promote the methods and benefits of building strong relationships with students.

"There are three channels that we encourage teachers to connect to students through. The first is the interpersonal channel, which involves showing interest in the student, providing emotional support and showing no favouritism," Professor Martin said.

"The second channel is building a substantive relationship where students connect to what you say and what activities you give them.

"The third channel is pedagogical relationship, how the teacher instructs and administers tasks and activities."

While the findings show that one negative relationship won't have a significantly detrimental effect on a student's overall school engagement, it may impact their engagement in the specific subject, Professor Martin warned.

"Even though the other positive relationships are helping kids stay engaged in school generally, if they're not getting on with their maths teacher they're less likely to pursue maths further," he said.

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Professor Martin said the importance of building positive relationships was well-known among teachers but they are often juggling a growing administrative workload alongside their pedagogical role.

"Teachers are under a lot of pressure and when we're under stress, sometimes relationships can also come under strain," he said.

"Teachers value relationships with students but it's not always easy to build in pedagogy."